ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף תהילים 92:15

Providence works in the same way with mankind. A wicked person who is accustomed to pleasures and luxuries would not survive transplantation and so is just taken from the world before his time. Thus, no good comes to the wicked nor does he live very long. However, though a righteous person may be uprooted and transplanted many times over, being dispossessed and suffering physical pain, this is ultimately for his own good, in order to set him in a firm place (Isaiah 22:23). For he will yet bring forth fruit in old age; (Psalms 92:15) For he will yet bring forth fruit in old age; (Psalms 92:15) and the Lord's purpose prospering in his hand (Isaiah 53:10). (Ch.8:11-20).

איש, “a man;” (adult) by the Torah’s use of the word איש, I might have been misled into thinking that what follows applies only to male adults, and not to female adults; in order to prevent such an error being made, the Torah adds the word: נפשות, ”persons,” regardless of which gender. (Sifra) יפליא, similar to the word יפריש, “he will set aside;” this is one of the words that have different meanings depending on in which context they appear. In fact, sometimes the same word may mean the opposite in one place from what it means in another place. For instance: in Deuteronomy 17,8 the line: כי יפלא ממך דבר למשפט, means “if a matter involving legal litigation is too difficult for you to decide,” in other words, the meaning of the root of the word is “something that is hidden;” on the other hand, here, it refers to something over and beyond your normal powers of perception. Other examples of words appearing as having a meaning opposite what they do elsewhere is the word דשן, which may mean: surfeit, abundance and it may mean useless leftovers of material that has been burnt. (Exodus 27,3, or being full of sap, (Psalms 92,15.) The author cites three or four more examples, making the same point.

Rabbi Nehorai says: I will abandon every profession in the world and I will not teach my son anything but Torah, for a person enjoys its reward in this world while the principal remains for him in the world to come. But all other professions are not so; for when a man comes to sickness or old age or suffering and cannot engage in his profession, he must die of starvation, whereas the Torah is not so, for it guards him from all evil in his youth and gives him a future and hope in his old age. Of his youth what is said? “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength” (Isaiah 40:31). Of his old age what is said? “They shall still bring forth fruit in old age” (Psalms 92:15). And it is also said of our father Abraham, “And Abraham was old … And the Lord blessed Abraham with everything” (Genesis 24:1). We find that Abraham our father observed the whole Torah before it was given, for it is said, “Because Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws” (Genesis 26:5). Rabbi Nehorai’s statement is perhaps as extreme of a statement as can be found on the issue of work versus Torah study. It is not a vision that many rabbis shared, at least not in a practical sense. Nevertheless, there are some elements that in my opinion strike a deep chord. The first is that in a society without a system to provide for its elderly and in which people cannot save up large sums of money, a life of work does not leave one with enough to live on later in life. While there are some safeguards that exist today that didn’t exist in the ancient world, care of the elderly is still one of the most difficult and important issues facing society. The second is that when a person is older, nearer to the end of life, they usually judge their lives not based on how much work they have done, but what good deeds they have done, how well they have treated their families and what kind of a spiritual/moral legacy they will leave behind. I think that that is partly what Rabbi Nehorai is speaking about: when a person is older, all the work they did will not matter as much as the quality of the lives they led, and for the rabbis, the quality of life was measured by the amount of Torah studied. The mishnah, the tractate and the entire seder end with a midrash on Abraham. Abraham’s strength stood for him until very late in life. Indeed, he had Isaac when he was nearly 100 years old! The final midrash on Abraham states that he kept the whole Torah before it was given. In this context, this means that Abraham’s blessing came to him because of his observance of the Torah and not merely because of his faith in God (as the Christians taught). Congratulations! We have finished Kiddushin. It is a tradition at this point to thank God for helping us to finish learning this tractate and this entire Seder and to commit ourselves to going back and relearning them, so that we may not forget them and so that their lessons will stay with us for all of our lives. By now, if you have been learning with Mishnah Yomit from the beginning, you have finished two entire Seders of Mishnah. This is a tremendous accomplishment and you should feel satisfied with your hard work and devotion. Seder Nashim began with Yevamoth, a tricky tractate with many difficult laws concerning levirate marriage, worked its way through a tractate on marriage contracts (Ketuboth), two tractates on vows (Nedarim and Nazir), one on adulterous women (Sotah), neared completion with a tractate on divorce and finally, after all this learning, a tractate on how one enters marriage. So you had to wait until the end for the best part, but I’m sure it was worth the effort. So congratulations on making it through another tractate and seder. May you have the strength and time to keep on learning more Mishnah! Tomorrow we begin the first tractate of Seder Z’manim (appointed times), tractate Shabbat.